By default, when you add a folder or file to your site, it will be included in the navigation bars and will be visible to all users once it is published.

You might not want this to happen in some cases. Fortunately, there are two ways to hide items from the site navigation. The method you choose depends on the situation.

Excluding items from site navigation

If you never want the item to appear in the site's navigation – for example, if you've created a folder to store the site's images – you can permanently hide it by selecting 'Edit', 'Settings' and then ticking the option 'Exclude from navigation'. Don't forget to save your changes at the bottom of the page. The folder will then disappear from the navigation.

Don't forget: if you're trying to exclude a folder from the navigation, make sure you're editing the settings of the folder itself, rather than a page that has been selected as the 'default view' or landing page for that folder. There'll be an info message at the top of the screen to remind you of this. You can click on the 'go here' link or the contents tab on the green edit bar to navigate back to the folder itself.

Un-publishing folders – including default folders

If you do eventually want the item to appear in the navigation, but don't want it to appear now – for example, while you're working on a new page or section – you can temporarily hide it by making sure its state is 'Private'. If it has been published by accident, you can select the drop-down menu next to 'Publish' and select 'Retract'. This will make the page 'Private' again.

You can also use this approach to hide 'default' folders – such as 'News', 'Events' and 'Jobs' – that you don't want to appear, but think you will want in the future. To do this:

at the top level of the site, select the 'contents' tab and in the table view check the box at the left side of the items you want to retract

at the bottom of the table click on the button 'Change State'

and at the bottom of the following page, check the radio button next to 'Retract', then save.